History Literature / TheButterBattleBook

* AnAesop: The book is about both the pointlessness of war and the Cold War arms race, of all things. Two tribes called the Yooks and the Zooks are divided by a wall, and the societies can't get along because the Yooks eat their bread butter-side up, while the Zooks do the same butter-side ''down.'' Both groups start developing weapons to attack the other, a process which escalates until they independently develop the "Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroo," a bomb capable of wiping out all life. The story ends with a child--the narrator--watching as his grandfather and Van Itch stand poised to drop their Boomeroos, begging for an answer: "Who'll drop it first?" It's a simple but powerful way of saying that wanting to kill someone or disliking a society simply because they're different from you is, for lack of a better term, completely ''stupid.''

** AlliterativeTitle: The '''B'''utter '''B'''attle '''B'''ook.

Creator/RalphBakshi gave the book an AnimatedAdaptation in 1989, the last to be produced during Dr. Seuss' lifetime. Seuss regarded it as [[CreatorPreferredAdaptation the best adaptation of any of his works]]. Creator/{{Netflix}}'s ''[[WesternAnimation/GreenEggsAndHam2019 Green Eggs and Ham: The Second Serving]]'' also takes heavy inspiration from the book, being a spy thriller focused on the Yook and Zook War (fought over, as you may have guessed, which side of their bread to spread butter on)- though none of the cast of the book appear and, unlike the book [[spoiler: the war ultimately ends peacefully and no one is harmed]].

* MexicanStandoff: [[spoiler: The last scene. Grandpa Yook and Van Itch are both ready to drop their bombs and destroy the opposing town, which is no doubt going to kill them as well. Then the story [[NoEnding stops]].]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In the final act Grandpa is being TrickedToDeath when he is given a nuclear weapon by his leader and ordered to carry out what is clearly a SuicideAttack.

Creator/RalphBakshi gave the book an AnimatedAdaptation in 1989, the last to be produced during Dr. Seuss' lifetime. Seuss regarded it as [[CreatorPreferredAdaptation the best adaptation of any of his works]]. Creator/{{Netflix}}'s ''[[WesternAnimation/GreenEggsAndHam2019 Green Eggs and Ham: The Second Serving]]'' also takes heavy inspiration from the book, being a spy thriller focused on the Yook and Zook War- though none of the cast of the book appear.

''The Butter Battle Book'' is a children's book by Creator/DrSeuss and undoubtedly his darkest.

Creator/RalphBakshi gave the book an AnimatedAdaptation in 1989, the last to be produced during Dr. Seuss' lifetime. Seuss regarded it as [[CreatorPreferredAdaptation the best adaptation of any of his works]]. Creator/{{Netflix}}'s ''[[WesternAnimation/GreenEggsAndHam2019 Green Eggs and Ham: The Second Serving]]'' also takes heavy inspiration from the book, being a spy thriller focused on the Yook and Zook War.

* NoEnding: [[spoiler:Both the animated special and the book just stop during the most chilling moment when both the Yook and Zook are waiting to see who will drop the bomb first. It makes the whole thing much more powerful and allows children to think and make up their own minds about the whole conflict. In his official biography, Geisel stated that he was inspired by ''Literature/TheLadyOrTheTiger'', which also lacked an ending.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:While it ends just before the ugly part happens, [[ForegoneConclusion a happy ending is pretty much out of the question]]. Either side dropping the bean will almost certainly destroy both sides if they work as advertised, since the dividing wall goes right through the middle of the territory and they're threatening to drop it right off the wall itself (the animated version heavily implies that the leaders know this and are setting the protagonist up, which is why all but one member of each side are currently hiding in underground bunkers). Even if that wasn't the case, it still comes down to one side dropping theirs and eradicating the other or both sides dropping at the same time and [[KillEmAll eradicating everyone]]. However, nobody dropping the bomb is also an option, since that's what happened at the end of the real Cold War that the book is based on.]]

* AnAesop: The book is about both the pointlessness of war and the Cold War arms race, of all things. Two tribes called the Yooks and the Zooks are divided by a wall, and the societies can't get along because the Yooks eat their bread butter-side up, while the Zooks do the same butter-side ''down.'' Both groups start developing weapons to attack the other, a process which escalates until they independently develop the "Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroo," a bomb capable of wiping out all life. The story ends with a child--the narrator--watching as his grandfather and the opposing side stand poised to drop their Boomeroos, begging for an answer: "Who'll drop it first?" It's a simple but powerful way of saying that wanting to kill someone or disliking a society simply because they're different from you is, for lack of a better term, completely ''stupid.''

* CorruptHick: The Chief Yookaroo talks with a Texan drawl and wears similar rectangular glasses to the 41st President of the United States.

* NiceHat: As Grandpa advances through the ranks, he replaces his service cap firstly with a floppy Civil War kepi, and then a fur pilot's hat.

* SympatheticPOV: Though the message concerns both sides' equally SillyReasonForWar, the focus is on the Grandpa Yook who is matched time and time again by his Zook rival and sent slinking back to base. He also comes off as visibly more shaken by their final plan than the Zook counterpart. The very last scene of the animation has the Grandpa Yook visibly hesitating and panicking over who would drop their bomb first.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Yooks eat their bread butter side up, and are horrified that the Zooks eat theirs butter side down.

* AnAesop: The book is about both the pointlessness of war and the Cold War arms race, of all things. Two tribes called the Yooks and the Zooks are divided by a wall, and the societies can't get along because the Yooks eat their bread butter-side up, while the Zooks do the same butter-side ''down.'' Both groups start developing weapons to attack the other, a process which escalates until they independently develop the "Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroo," a bomb capable of wiping out all life. The story ends with a child--the narrator--watching as his grandfather and the opposing side stand poised to drop their Boomeroos, begging for an answer: "Who'll drop it first?" It's a simple but powerful way of saying that wanting to kill someone or disliking a society simply because they're different from you is, for lack of a better term, completely ''stupid.''
* AlliterativeTitle: The '''B'''utter '''B'''attle '''B'''ook.

* MexicanStandoff: [[spoiler: The last scene. Grandpa Zook and Van Itch are both ready to drop their bombs and destroy the opposing town, which is no doubt going to kill them as well. Then the story [[NoEnding stops]].]]

* CerebusRollercoaster: The SillyReasonForWar comes as pretty funny at first when all it consists of is building silly and increasingly silly weapons, until it's taken to its logical conclusion both sides building the equalivent of nuclear bombs.

* DirtyCommunists: The name Van Itch sounds very similar to the stereotypical Russian surname Ivanovitch. The Zooks also dress in red, to contrast with the blue Yooks.